1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a load supporting slat for a vehicle luggage carrier and, in particular, to a slat having a snap-in end piece for preattachment of the end piece prior to mounting to the vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has become desirable to install luggage carriers on motor vehicles both during original manufacture of the vehicle or as an add-on by the vehicle dealer or owner. Most article carriers include various components including load-bearing slats which may consist of a slat body, a rub strip and end pieces to enclose the slat. However, handling and assembling multiple components can increase costs and result in lost components. As a result, various means of "pre-attaching" the end piece to the slat body have been developed such that the slat and end piece can be simply mounted to the vehicle.
In one example, underlying fasteners are used to attach the end piece to the slat body during manufacture of the carrier. However, this requires additional machining to receive the fastener. Another prior known device utilizes a flexible tang formed in the slat body and engageable with an opening in the end piece to prevent removal of the end piece. In the event the end piece needs to be separated from the slat body either the end piece or the slat would have to be deformed to separate the tang from the opening. Moreover, these assemblies do not provide means for preventing misalignment of the end piece relative to the slat body. Once the end piece becomes misaligned the fastener used to secure the slat to the vehicle cannot be automatically fed through the receiving openings in the end piece and slat body. Some prior known slat assemblies avoid this by molding the fastener directly into the end piece.
In an attempt to prevent rotation or misalignment, end pieces have been developed which include a downwardly depending stud element adapted to be matingly received within a correspondingly configured aperture in the floor of the slat body. Both the stud and the aperture have corresponding rectangular configurations such that once the stud is received within the aperture rotation is prevented as a result of the mating cooperation. However, in order to prevent such misalignment the stud and aperture must be closely matched requiring close manufacturing tolerances.